Step 2 – Getting a refund for charges already made.
Once you have successfully stopped the texts, it is time to set about getting a refund. Don’t expect your network to be helpful, but you can ask. If you get help please report it by leaving a comment below. There are reports of some networks arranging three way calls with these companies to assist customers. If they do this for you they are doing much more than they are required to do at this stage and deserve a pat on the back.
Getting your money refunded can be very simple or almost impossible. If the amount of money is small, you will probably get a refund from the ‘service provider’ without any problem. If the amount is larger, they will probably offer a partial refund. Don’t accept a partial refund!
Start as you mean to go on. You need to collect evidence, so record all calls, keep all texts and ask for confirmation in writing where appropriate.
The chances are that your network will not be in the slightest bit interested. The logical argument that they allowed the charge to be made and therefore should accept some responsibility won’t work.
So it is left to you to seek a refund.
Call the ‘service provider’ on the helpline number provided in the text. Make sure you record the call. Better still, if you have an email address, deal with the matter by email. The advantage of this is that you will have a clear record of what was said and what was promised. Be absolutely clear that you never consented to their charges and ask for proof of that consent. Ask for the following:
- Screenshots of the subscription workflow where you were alleged to have signed up for this service.
- A description of what the service you are supposed to have subscribed to provides? Is this a newsletter, access to a web portal?
- Any evidence that after supposedly signing up for the service, you actually used it
- The complete web server log of the subscription, including the User Agent strings containing all device details (browser, device type, device IP address) together with dates and times.
- If you are with O2 or GiffGaff the subscription started after 11th May 2019, auditable proof of the additional authentication used (as required to comply with O2/GiffGaff rules)
- Full company details of the company operating the service, country of registration, full name of company, company number and registered company address.
- Details of the Accredited Payment Intermediary(API) which handled the payment
- Details of the company’s disputes procedure, including any ADR scheme you can refer the matter to if they fail to provide a full refund.
Remember that under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the burden of proof rests with the service provider and not with you. You don’t have to prove you didn’t subscribe, they have to prove that you did! Tell them that you want a full refund of all the charges made to your account. Different companies will respond in different ways to this request. Many of the slightly more reputable companies will admit that they hold no evidence, or at least that they had ‘technical difficulties’ and will proceed to make a refund by one of the mechanisms listed below. The reality is that, because it often takes weeks for consumers to notice these charges on their bills, by paying refunds they avoid complaints. This results in fewer complaints about their ‘service’ and consequently they are able to operate for longer before being closed down.
Other will insist that you consented to their charges and will steadfastly refuse to make any refund. Some will tell you to apply for a refund by email – to an address which never receives a reply. When emailing, request a delivery receipt and a read receipt. If you get these back, keep them as evidence.
If a full or partial refund is agreed it will not be credited back to your ‘phone account. This is an example of just how broken the Payforit system is. Money is taken from your ‘phone account. If a refund is agreed you would expect it to be credited back to the same account. But this is ‘not technically possible!’.
The refund is likely to use one of three mechanisms:
- A Paypal payment to your email address
- A text message sent to your ‘phone which has to be presented to a Post Office for payment.
- A bank transfer (you will need to provide the company with your bank details for this and you may not feel this is safe)
You are entitled to insist on a refund to your phone account. This right is enshrined in the Consumer Rights Act Section 45(3). If you want to be difficult you can insist on this. Additionally, section 45(4) of the Consumer Rights Act allows 14 days for the refund to be made once it has been agreed. Keep evidence of the agreement to refund and the date it was agreed and the method which was agreed. I wouldn’t advise giving any additional personal information to these companies, so the refund options are somewhat limited.
If all attempts to get a refund from the scamming company fail, you can then go back to your network. Present them with the evidence that you have attempted to negotiate with the service provider, but that say that you remain dissatisfied. Remind them of Mobile Operators’ Code of Practice for the management and operation of Payforit. Ask them to provide the support that this Code requires. If the scammer has failed to engage with you, failed to provide evidence of your consent to the charge, or if the contact information supplied doesn’t work, you may have case against your network. You will have done everything they asked you to do and it hasn’t worked! In these circumstances OfCom expect them to provide help and to make their own investigation. There is some evidence that the networks will make an ‘ex gratia’ payment to avoid bad publicity and avoid accusations of negligence.
If the network refuses to help you you will need to consider other courses of action. It is important to follow the process correctly in order to maximise your chances of success should the matter go to the Ombudsman, ADR or to the Small Claims Court.
Regardless of whether you are successful in getting a refund, there is still more for you to do!
Step 3 – Making a complaint to the Phone-paid Services Authority.
I discovered that I have been charged by one of these scam companies (Jam Jar Mobile) and funds were added to my 3 Mobile account and deducted from my account. I only discovered all this this morning. I have done the STOP message to the company and I left a message on their answering machine. I also immediately contacted 3 Mobile who were actually very helpful and agreed to credit me my money and cancel all future deductions. They took my complaint seriously and passed me through to another department who went through everything and then agreed to escalate my complaint to the Ombudsman. My issue with 3 Mobile is that they are allowing Payforit to operate through their billing system and they said they could NOT stop this. However, I await to hear from the Ombudsman and see what they have to say about it. I have also contacted my MP who is very interested in looking into this for me.
Lastly, I have just received a text from this scam company saying “We tried to call you back (I did get a missed call). the service has been STOPPED and a Goodwill refund to be issued. ” It goes on to say a refund will be received by SMS within 5 days and I should take it to the Post office who will give me a cash refund. Is this for real?
Hi Angela
It sounds as though Three were quite helpful to you. Your complaint needs to go to the Phone-paid Services Authority, not the ombudsman. I don’t think Three can do that for you, you need to do it yourself. Please do this as it may help others.
It is not unusual for refunds to come via SMS postal order! You would expect that the money would be credited back to your account, but that doesn’t appear to be an option! Just another example of how archaic and insecure Payforit is.
Have you got there number jamjar i rang them they said they were going to refund me havent heard anthing since so annoying its adding 18 lounds to my phone bill
Hi Gillian
The phone number for Jam Jar Mobile is 0330 058 2553.
Email is help@jamjarmobile.com.
Address:
JAM JAR MOBILE LIMITED
Fern Hill Business Centre
Todd Street
Bury
BL9 5BJ
United Kingdom
Hope this helps. BTW, once promised, refunds are supposed to be made speedily. Make a further complaint to PSA if you’ve been waiting more than 3 weeks.
Same thing happened to me – Jam Jar Play charged me £4.50 for 3 weeks – a total of £10.50, without me knowingly having subscribed.
Spoke to 3 and they were brilliant – conference-called the company with me still on the line to demand a refund. The company said they’d get back to me in 2 working days, but 3 have given me a good-will credit for the amount anyway, which will be reflected in my next bill.
Have to say – great customer service.
Great that you’ve managed to get a refund. However I’m sure you could have done without the hassle caused by these bogus subscriptions. Unless ‘Jam Jar’ have explained, to your satisfaction, how you cam to be signed up, please make a complaint to the regulator. Many of these companies give quick refunds in order to try to stop complaints which will ultimately close them down.
Well done Three – maybe you could look at a few other cases where the amounts involved are larger and you have been less than helpful!
Bodyin8 had stolen 85 pounds worth of charges from me since January (3 quid a week). I’m on a sim only deal with three at 14 pounds a month so rarely check my phone bills!!
rang the freephone number on the charge and played merry hell. Recorded the phone call. Accused them of fraud and requested a full refund. They have fobbed me off with an email which will apparently show the results of the investigation into the subscription in 2-3 working days.
Following this I contacted three who started down the path of trying to absolve responsibility. I put him straight highlighting that his network had been complicit in the theft and that as three are already aware of this issue that they are therefore allowing it to continue on a large scale. At this point he changed his tune stating that some form of partial or full refund is available if I cannot get my money back from Bodyin8.
Will update in 3 days.
11 July 2018. Discovered I was being charged £3/week since March, when I got a text off Nuyoo saying they would renew the subscription if I didn’t text STOP. Total charges £57 (I never check my bill as I’m on an AYCE contract). Phoned TapToBill, who confirmed the stop. They gave me SB7’s (Nuyoo’s) number who refused to refund anything as I was ‘beyond the gratis period’. Phoned Three who gave me £50 ex gratia (I tried for more but they would go ‘a penny over £50’. They also said they would not/could not bar PayForIt or general third party charges…..and also stated that EE, O2 and Vodafone will not bar such charges (which would appear to be a lie, reading this website). I’ve referred the case to PSA, using the link on this website. Let’s see what happens. It’s a total disgrace that this is allowed to continue……many thanks fir setting up the website to promote the scam/fraud (in which PayForIt and Three are, in my opinion, complicit through their inaction and as they make money from the scam)
Hi James
To be fair to Three, £50 is a more generous offer than usual. Unfortunately most of your money actually went to SB7, and it is from them that the law requires you to seek a refund. You can still seek a full refund from SB7, and the £50 from Nuyoo is more than sufficient to pay the £25 fee to start a small claims case.
Please don’t let SB7 keep your money. What they have told you is rubbish. The law is on your side. For there to be a valid contract you have to have KNOWINGLY consented to the charges. You didn’t, so there is no valid contract and a full refund is due. Send them a letter before action as detailed in this post. Give them 3 weeks to respond. If you don’t get a refund, start action through Moneyclaim Online. Contact me again if you need to do this and I’ll help you put together a bundle to support your case. So far, SB7 have avoided going to court by paying out in full before it gets to this stage. They know they would lose.
Don’t forget to leave a review of SB7 Mobile Ltd on Trustpilot. Avoid using bad language and stick to the facts of your case. These reviews are clearly hurting them and they are trying to get the reviews removed.
Hope you manage to sorth this out and obtain a full refund.
Paul
I have just had one of these but Tesco have refunded the charge since we both thought it was a premium rate number that had been dialled and it was too early to check on their system of calls made. Mine originated from loadedmobi so I will also be chasing them for a refund.
I received one of these scam texts from ThumbTiger and ignored it. A couple of months later I checked my bill and found I had been charged £31.50 through Payforit. It was only thanks to this website that I was able correlate Payforit with ThumbTiger.
Following the above advice, I first tried calling the help number in the ThumbTiger text to demand a refund. I was unable to get through as no one answered the phone.
Next I rang Three customer support (since my contract is with them) and explained the situation. They were unable to provide a refund, but instead offered to take the cost off of my future bills. I accepted that offer, so essentially am paying nothing for my phone bill for the next 3 months, which is acceptable.
I asked to have Payforit blocked, but they were unable to accommodate that request, since they said it is required by other services. Their advice was to always send a STOP message to these texts in the future. I explained that sometimes I travel abroad and my phone does not have roaming, so I would be unable to receive these messages to know that I should respond to unsubscribe. They apologized but were unable to provide a solution.
I have submitted a complaint to the PSA about ThumbTiger and about Payforit allowing opt-out subscriptions. It is appalling that customers can be charged for not unsubscribing from a service that they never subscribed to in the first place!
I am happy that Three were able to help and that I have effectively been able to get my money back, but I am not happy that I am unable to prevent this happening again in the future.
Thank you for putting together this website. Without it I would not have got to the bottom of these unwanted Payforit charges so quickly.
3 years I’ve been paying £2 a week, every Wednesday, and had no idea. mobiTrans t/a vipgames apparently. EE gave me contact details but number is “dead” – at a lose end with it, totalling over £300 I’ve paid. What can I do? Lesson learnt to check my bills in future
This is a very old scam.
This was an EE ‘own portal’ service, not regulated by PSA at the time you subscribed.
https://mobitransscam.wordpress.com/
Have charges been taken recently? You’ve lost a lot of money. Taken stealthily of course. Certainly worth spending £25 to pursue through the small claims court if necessary.
Tell EE that you have been unable to contact the company. Ask why they have taken money for a ‘service’ they have no means of contacting. Ask for full contact details including a mailing address. Send letter before action to mailing address and also to EE asking for proof that you subscribed to this service and also any evidence they have that you USED the service.
Worth taking a look at https://payforitsucks.co.uk/ee-customers-did-you-know-that-ee-operate-a-system-even-worse-than-payforit/
Because EE were directly responsible for the service at the time you subscribed (you could ask Phone-paid Services Authority to confirm this), yours is one of the rare cases where legal action against the network could succeed.
Hi Paul
Every Wednesday continuously for last three years until yesterday when I noticed, called EE and blocked it.
EE said they have nothing to do with it and should just contact the supplier directly.
Guess I will give them a chance on the email address (phone number given to me is dead) to respond before taking further action.
Thanks for your support
Hi all, just thought I should update you.. I had a full refund within 5 working days from the company. I emailed them twice daily every day until the money came in. My original email stated the exact total a request for full refund and a demand to be contact within 48 hours otherwise I will be contacting the Financial Ombudsman. They complied with all of my demands. I think I was very fortunate.
Hi Paul my names dean and I’ve been scammed by thumb tiger I have been given £50 good will from three and they have told me to ring thumb tiger they have been taking £4.50 a week since april 2018 we are no Oct 2019 I’ve worked it out to be £355.50 they have offered me a partial refund of £153 what shall I do it’s been offered via post office text I’ve just spoke to them and she said this looks like it’s our first and final offer I said I refuse it and she said she will pass it back to the claims team so angry many thanks
Hi Dean
It all depends on how determined you are. If you take a partial refund it will weaken your legal position. Most consumers, if they follow the advice on the website, manage to obtain a full refund. Have Thumbtiger provided you with any proof that you entered into a contract with them? If not, you need to ask for it. It’s probably best to combine this into a “letter before action”, giving them a couple of weeks to either prove the legitimacy of the charges or to refund them. If they fail to do either, you can then start action through Moneyclaim Online. Usually though, these companies settle once you convince them that you will go to court if necessary.
Let me know how it goes. Happy to help further if needed.
Paul
hi Paul i need your help , i was scam by TrimXS , they add 14.99 to my koodo bill what can i do to get my money back?? please help
Hello
I have just checked my bill with Vodaphone and been charged £4.50 a week since August a total of £108.
The Company that scammed me is J1Media, and The Director is a Mr David Flood as stated at Companies House
Please beware of this Company.
Still awaiting a reply from them.
Contacted PSA and they were absolutely useless as were Vodaphone.
It is infuriating that I am a sitting duck while these thieves are taking hard earned money from my account
hi (another victim)
I have been scammed by thumbtiger they charged so far £18.00
Just picked it via my Sep bill £13.50
Payforit – GBP4.50, Playbay, Helpline 03333137764
Called my network 3 very unhelpful and asked to contact directly to the above number
Rang the company but it was handled by a call centre in Australia
they refused to offer any refund at all and after having iron hot debate. they send me a link;
HELPDESK
Thanks for your call about your phone bill. Click this link (https://m.telcosupport.com/claim?id=1759784) to lodge your claim. Need help? 0800 029 4506
the link only works in my mobile
Has anyone used this way of claiming refund
Any advice please
Much appreciated
Thanks
Hi Awals
It will do no harm to follow the procedure they have given you. If, after using it, you do not get a refund, follow the advice given here:
https://payforitsucks.co.uk/im-not-getting-anywhere-with-my-case/
Paul
just found out I have been charged around £15 a month for 18 months, £382.50!!!! o2 were reasonably helpful, they gave me the number of Abacus Synergy, who’ve I’ve emailed and will now phone
this is so wrong!!
They have taken £80 from my vadafone account, vadafone done nothing. They charged me to learn french £9 every week, i cant believe how they allowing people to scam you and they not doing anything about it!!!
Thank you very much for this great information.
I got scammed by BodyIn8 and spent the last couple of weeks going through the process that you recomend.
1. I got Vodafone to put the block on payforit transactions
2. I sent the “STOP” text to Bodyin8
3. Complained to bodyin8
4. Complained to the PSA
The Bodyin8 scammers tried to give me the runaround so i sent all of the emails between us to the PSA (there is an email address for doing this) as they had said they would take a look at Bodyin8.
I was getting nowhere fast with Bodyin8 for example:
“Cristina (MPS Helpline)
Oct 11, 10:42 BST
Dear Peter Somerled,
Thank you for your email.
After rereading the investigation report I can see the consent to charge process was handled under the Payforit scheme through an independent third party accredited by your mobile network operator. They have confirmed to me that they have a 100% proof that your mobile number accessed the website and whoever was using your device at the time pressed both buttons consenting to the charges and starting the subscription.
Did anyone else have access to your mobile?
Kind Regards,
MPS Helpline”
Total lies!!!!
My next move was to send this to Vodafone via the online complaints system. I sent something similar to the scammers too and the PSA:
“Recently a Payforit scammer has stolen money from me usung your mobile phone platform. They insist that i soigned up for their services, which I certainly did not do.
i have contacted the PSA and made a complaint which they are now investigating. The case reference is : CAS-158965-J6M6B7 CRM:01465737
The company in question is:
WELL FITNESS LIMITED
03300538661
support@mpshelpline.com
I have asked them to provide evidence that I asked for their service to be provided and they cannot, they simply quote some vague T’s & C’s.
What I am angry and very concerend about is the fact that the Vodafone mobile phone platform allowed this to occur in the first place and that Vodafone took no steps to protect me from such scams. The Vodafone platform has the ability to stop these scams, however as you do not activate the ‘charge to bill bar’ by default, and nor did you make it clear to me as a customer that I would be vulnerable to such scams you must accept that you are cuplable in this instance for these charges to my account.
I ask that you refund these to me directly.
Moreover, be aware that I intend to raise an action at Edinburgh Sheriff Court against Well Fitness Limited and Vodafone in order for me to secure a refund of the money which has been illegally obtained from me via the Vodafone platform.
Finally, as my contract with you has still quite some time to run and I worry that similar scams may occur unbeknown to me and which could potentially cause me financial loss outwith my control. Therefore I seek your assurance that no such scams from payforit or similar will be perpetrated upon me via your network and platform. These circumstances lead me to be disinclined to continue with my contract with Vodafone as it appears that you have no interest in curbing these rapacious payforit scams. Your advice in respect would also be welcome.
Kind regards”
Two day later Vodafone called me and after a bit of a chat they told me that they would take my comments onboard particulalry having the ability for payforit enabled by default.
Big deal eh!
Then the guy told me that Vodafone would refund me in full and take the cash of my next bill..- RESULT
Thanks again for the great website and keep up the good fight.
BTW, I’m still gonna pursue Bodyin8 and the PSA as well as contact my MP and MSP on this criminal activity.
Pete,
I am having a terrible time with these scammers BodyIn8. They have stolen £51 from my Vodafone bill (which Vodafone seemed to have allowed them to do without alerting me!)
I have:
Raised a complaint to MPS Helpline – had a very similar response from Cristina who says I “signed up” – which I did not. They have sent a ‘log’ which details all the texts they sent to me – not once does it show that I contacted them.
Reported BodyIn8 to the PSA – I have been told it will take about a week to hear back from them.
Raised a fraud complaint to Vodafone – someone has called me back and basically said it’s my fault, they can’t control the third party services I sign up to (again I didn’t!) and they seem quite happy for me to cancel my contract with them. (I read your advice above word for word to the guy).
Have also said I will take both Vodafone and BodyIn8 to the small claims court.
Not sure where to go from here….I feel a complete victim of this fraudulent company and cant quite fathom how they can continue being allowed to do business!
Any tips?
Lisa,
You’re not the first to be scammed by Bodyin8. Others have found that a prompt refund is received after starting the Small Claims procedure. Start with a “letter before action”. The process is fully described on this website here
This is the email wording I used. I got my money back within a week and £10 compensation for my trouble. They will probably try to call you. Do not answer any unknown callers and eventually they should reply by email. Stick to your guns, keep it formal and be prepared to take the action stated.
NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
(Insert company address here)
I understand from my mobile phone service provider that on 6 November 2018, your company made a charge to my mobile phone account (insert phone number) in the sum of £4.50.
I have never subscribed to your service or any similar service and must therefore conclude that this sum has been removed from my mobile phone account by fraud.
I require you to refund the sum of £4.50, along with compensation of £10.00, to cover the inconvenience and time I have expended investigating and pursuing this matter.
If I do not receive a response from you within 14 days, I will be taking further action, which may include a crime complaint to the police via Action Fraud, a claim for recovery and compensation via HM Courts & Tribunals Service Money Claim Online service and a complaint to the UK Phone-paid Services Authority.
For evidential purposes, further communications in this matter should be made by email only .
Hi Paul,
Thanks so much for your reply.
In fact within half an hour of my writing on this website, Vodafone have called me back and have offered a full refund on the charges – result!
However, in this case, I feel the real ‘scammers’ have got away with it and will continue to do so.
Is there anything more I can do to pursue and highlight the fraudulent activity of this unethical company? Make others aware….
Hi Lisa,
I opened a strongly worded complaint to Vodafone via their website and they called me back about it a few days later. They had already put a block on payforit scams on my account at my request and when I threatened them with further action and gave them a PSA ref. no. and also quoted them chapter and verse about Vodafones role in the whole payforit infrastructure they gave me a credit on my account to the value of what I was scammed , £24.00 which was ok.
Then today 26 November 2018 I got the email below from the PSA:
………………………………..
Dear Pete XXXXXX
I write in reference to your complaint relating to the ‘Body in 8′ £3 per week subscription service operating on Payforit and the outcome of our investigation.
After thoroughly examining the evidence the PSA identified the service to be operating in breach of our Code of Practice.
Given the nature of the breach, the PSA has taken the decision to deal with this matter using our informal procedure and allow the provider to rectify the issue raised.
The PSA is satisfied the provider has now rectified the issue and the service is operating compliantly.
Refund Claims
The provider has agreed to provide refunds to consumers who make a valid claim. Should you wish to discuss a refund you will need to contact the provider directly and should specifically state you have been referred by the PSA with your case reference number CAS-XXXXXXX. Please note you may be asked to provide a copy of your phone bill highlighting the relevant premium rate charges before a refund is issued.
Provider Details:
Well Fitness Limited
Email: support@mpshelpline.com
Phone: 0330 053 8661
If you have any further questions or information about your complaint, please contact our helpline on 0300 30 300 20 between 9.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Please ensure you have your case reference number to hand before calling.
Kind regards
The Phone-paid Services Authority
………………………………..
So, I have asked for my refund as per the PSA email…..and also mentioned that my accusations that BodyIn8 being a bunch of lying scumbag fraudsters was indeed correct and corroborated by their own regulatory body!
Go get em Lisa!
Hi Pete,
I received exactly the same email as you about receiving a refund! Indeed, I will pursue it as they absolutely should not get away with this behaviour!
Good luck with your claim too! (and thanks for your help here!)
I am pursuing My Media Games for a refund for unconsented charges. They are registered in the Seychelles. I have tortured them to get a UK address for a legal letter to be sent. They are clearly a disreputable company and confirmed that they service that I didn’t sign up to hadn’t even been used. So why would I consent to charges for a service I never even used, and they confirmed that it wasn’t used? This company was using the same short code number as Go Games Hub which previously scammed many users, the facts of which can be found on various internet sites. I will be pursuing this.
It looks as though Txtnation are the level 1 provider for this ‘service’. You could ask them for a UK address for My Media Games. Failing this, as they were actively involved in taking the money, you could initiate a Small Claim against them. Try to deal with them in writing as it is not 100% clear on the regulator’s website. All you need from them is an admission that they handled your money. It is a problem when the scam company is based outside the EU. You could also consider claim against your network, alleging negligence, but this will require you to prove that your network were/ought to have been aware of this scam at the time the money was taken.
I have requested a UK address from TXTnation and they claimed they didn’t have one except the foreign registration address of: ABSOLUTE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Registration Number: 199073 Address: Suite 15, 1st Floor Oliaji Trade Centre, Francis Rachel Street, P.O. Box 1004, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles.
After many emails to My Media Games Customer ‘service’ , I got an UK address for this foreign company, but it is a correspondence address only apparently and has about 1000 company names registered to the same address according to companies house, with no match for this company My Media Games/ Absolute international.
In my PSA complaint I will name both My Media Games/Absolute International AND TXTnation. I will probably have to pursue a refund through TXTnation as the foreign company are almost untouchable and TXTnation (and 02) are agents of this suspect operation.
The registered address for txtNation is 15 Billacombe Road, Plymstock, Plymouth, Devon, PL9 7HX. Send your letter before action by first class signed for post in order to ensure they cannot claim non-receipt. With bit of luck this will get you a full refund. If not you will have to decide whether to proceed through Moneyclaim Online. You need to ask them for proof of consent for the money they took from your account. Do this before sending your letter before action, but don’t allow them to drag thing out for more than a day or two. Let me know how you get on.
Thank you!
just a quick update, after a bit of chasing and reporting to the PSA, they refunded me all £562 of it! happy days
Well done and thank you for letting us know of your success. I hope this encourages others to pursue a refund
I only just realised when I looked into my Three billing after I noticed my last two bills were unusually high.
Turns out I was being scammed £4.50 every Wednesday since August to Payforit for the Playbay helpline, which I absolutely did not sign up for. I never received any texts from them neither. In total, I’ve been scammed £49.50.
I rang Three, they didn’t really seem to understand and tried to insist it was my issue for signing up to the subscription (which I didn’t). I fought my battle and pretended to be smart by talking about consumer rights, etc. He rang the company to tell them to stop charging me. He also credited my Three account with £50.
A few days ago I was the victim of a Payforit scam (£4.50).
Having contacted my mobile phone service provider, I emailed the Payforit ‘company’ responsible with a very formal “NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS”, stating that if I did not hear from them within 14 days I would be taking further action, which may include a crime complaint to the police via Action Fraud, a claim for recovery and compensation via HM Courts & Tribunals Service Money Claim Online service and a complaint to the UK Phone-paid Services Authority. I required them to refund my £4.50, plus compensation of £10.
Following some further emails, I received a payment of £14.50 from the company in my Paypal account today.
I got this today from the PSA – RESULT!
Dear Pete XXXXXX
I write in reference to your complaint relating to the ‘Body in 8′ £3 per week subscription service operating on Payforit and the outcome of our investigation.
After thoroughly examining the evidence the PSA identified the service to be operating in breach of our Code of Practice.
Given the nature of the breach, the PSA has taken the decision to deal with this matter using our informal procedure and allow the provider to rectify the issue raised.
The PSA is satisfied the provider has now rectified the issue and the service is operating compliantly.
Refund Claims
The provider has agreed to provide refunds to consumers who make a valid claim. Should you wish to discuss a refund you will need to contact the provider directly and should specifically state you have been referred by the PSA with your case reference number CAS-1XXXXXXXXX. Please note you may be asked to provide a copy of your phone bill highlighting the relevant premium rate charges before a refund is issued.
Provider Details:
Well Fitness Limited
Email: support@mpshelpline.com
Phone: 0330 053 8661
If you have any further questions or information about your complaint, please contact our helpline on 0300 30 300 20 between 9.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Please ensure you have your case reference number to hand before calling.
Kind regards
The Phone-paid Services Authority
Hey so I just had one of these scams – seems they’re still at it! I’m with O2 and I rang them up and got through to their fraud department and he immediately asked and placed this premium number bar on the account and offered to cover the £4.50 they had placed on my account! Barely had to ask – very impressed with O2s service with this – especially after the Network outages of this month!
I received a text this morning from Jam Jar Club – £4.50 charge weekly for their “service”. Apparently I had signed up for it. Of course, I hadn’t – but it’s my first experience of these losers and their scams so I’m getting even (however I can). Called Tesco Mobile who immediately put a Premium Rate Bar on my service – they said that should do it; I also contacted their Security Operations Service who will be investigating it. I subsequently contacted the PSA who are investigating and finally I will be going to the ICO with the information so that under GDPR we can take a look from that angle. This is a data leak of some kind, but in any case Jam Jar have broken all kinds of data protection laws with this one.
I have sent a text to the number with the command to stop – got a receipt that stated I would be unsubscribed within 24 hours. Let’s see. I am hoping that given there is a bar on premium services through Tesco Mobile and that I have requested a stop to the subscription (even though I didn’t subscribe to anything) that it will go away. Just this minute I emailed Jam Jar Mobile and demanded a refund. It might only be £4.50 at this point, but the scamming little *&^^*** better not go any further. The beauty of working in IT is that you have all sorts of contacts. Including the provider of their rackspace 😉
Hi
I got scammed by jamjar today, are you able to share the email address you contacted them on?
Thanks
The email address given on the PSA website is help@jamjarmobile.com .
I have just discovered that Nuyoo have been taking 3.00 a week from my mobile account since March. I have sent the stop messages but the number on the text doesn’t function.
I will contact three (my service provider and see if they can help)?
Hi Trevor
Just to check, you have been trying to send “STOP ALL” to 83463? If that isn’t working you ask Three why not.
Nuyoo are one of the ‘services’ frequently involved in reports of Payforit scams. More information is here:
Nuyoo will give you the runaround but will provide a full refund if threatened with legal action.
Got a text early hours today, “receipt” hdwallpapers. shop.
text stop straight away, went on web and looked at my o2 account and they have charged me £4.58. Rang o2 and they are refunding the amount and putting a bar on my number as requested.
Thanks to your good advice i have stopped them scamming me for more!
Hi Paul,
Please can you advise the best action next. My unsolicited texts were from Nexgen Ltd My content.
I naively thought on receiving the first text that it was just spam & to not reply or respond incase that instigates it more.
I have definitely not knowingly subscribed to anything & didn’t know what it was even for.
I thought well they can’t take any money as they haven’t got my bank details, how wrong was I !! I checked my bank account & nothing untoward was showing. On getting the second text I investigated further. Like many others, I’d never heard of this direct billing on my mobile before. After reading through similar stories (quite a shock how big this scam is & how many people affected), I followed your advice & contacted 02 who immediately knew exactly what I was talking about (must get a lot of calls on it) & put a Bar all direct to bill debits & advised £18 has been debited so far with a further £4.50 to be taken off the next bill. She told me to text STOP to 64055 & to email contact@nexgenmobi.com to pursue a refund.
I emailed requesting a refund of £22.50 + £10 compensation, asked for evidence, threatened legal action & pretty much everything in the letter before action template.
This is their response I got today –
Thank you for contacting us.
We confirm that the service to 07847442771 has been cancelled.
MyContent is subscription service for mobile content, eBooks, emoticons, games and personalisation – content for mobile phones. Our service is advertised through online adverts that lead to our site. Like those shown below that lead to http://m.uk.mycontent.media
Your number was obtained through online browsing to our sites / adverts and its interaction with the offer / promotion upon the subscription being initiated.
The charges are authorised via the user of the phone to be charged to their phone bill as they go through the flow for the subscription.
Your subscription Time Stamp: 13/01/2019 14:22:04
We are sorry to inform you that you do not qualify for a refund.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us on the following email address: contact@nexgenmobi.com.
Kind regards, Mia
MyContent Customer Service
Can you advise on a response to this please?
Thank you for your help & all the advice on here.
Have you actually had a reply to your letter before action? Was it sent to the company’s registered address? Before starting any kind of legal action, you should give them every opportunity to put things right. That way if you do have to go to the small claims court, you should be able to win easily.
It looks as though Nexgen have a UK presence:
London (HQ)
63/66 Hatton Garden
Fifth Floor, Suite 23
London EC1N 8LE
However, I can’t find a company registration at Companies House. You need to make certain you have sent the letter before action to the correct address. Get Nexgen to email you their address to confirm.
You should also insist that they provide full details and logs of the supposed interaction between your handset and their “service”. You should also ask to see any evidence they have that you used their “service”. The letter before action makes it clear that they should disclose to you now, anything which they intend to rely on in court. I find it hard to believe that the email you received is their final response to a letter before action, but if it is it will make your case easy to win!
You shouldn’t file a claim until either the deadline in your letter before action has expired, or you have a letter/email from them stating their final position.
I assume that you have already logged a complaint with the Phone-paid Services Authority. If not you should do so, and tell them that they have so far failed to provide an explanation of how you became subscribed and have refused a refund.
You should also pursue O2. They are failing to meet their obligations under the Payforit rules which say that you can escalate your complaint to them, if you can show evidence that you have discussed the issue with the “service provider”, which you clearly can. If O2 refuse to help, raise their failure to deal with the matter as a formal complaint.
You could also log a GDPR complaint with the O2 data controller. Details are here
If after taking these steps, the matter is still unresolved, please come back for more help. I’d love to get one of these scammers into a position where they have to defend their actions in court, but so far they have always backed down long before getting to that stage!
In my experience it is rarely necessary to go as far as filing a small claim, but it is essential that they believe that you will pursue the matter like a Rottweiler, to the Small Claims court if that is what it takes.
Thanks Paul, I haven’t sent a letter only an email as that’s all the contact info I had. Should I send this email as a letter too ? Thanks, Wendy
Here’s my email I sent –
NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Nexgen Ltd
Dear Sir/Madam,
I understand from my mobile phone service provider that on the dates 13th, 20th and 27th January 2019 and 3rd and 10th February 2019, your company made a charge without my permission to my mobile phone account 07847 442771 in the sum of £4.50 totalling £22.50. I enclose evidence of these deductions.
I have never subscribed to your service or any similar service and must therefore conclude that this sum has been removed from my mobile phone account by fraud. I repudiate any suggestion that I ever entered into a lawful contract with you. As I have not knowingly consented to the charges there is no valid contract with you. I therefore insist you refund the sum of £22.50, along with compensation of £10.00, to cover the inconvenience and time I have expended investigating and pursuing this matter to my PayPal account via my email address.
Also that you explain how you came to have my phone number in order to claim such a payment; to include date and time of signup, details of the ‘journey’ made to sign up and screenshots of the landing page as they were at the time of the signup. Please provide evidence of the contract which you claim existed between us and evidence of my usage of your service.
Para 6.78 of the Ofcom 2012 review of PRS services states: 6.78 This scam demonstrates how a fragmented supply chain, with separation between the service provider and the billing party, can be exploited in an (unlawfully) opportunistic way. The greater transparency of PFI services would not prevent this harm. Rogue software can be embedded in such a way as to circumvent any verifiable method of consumer consent to charges (like a PFI checkout).
If I do not receive a response from you within 14 days, I will be taking further action, which may include a crime complaint to the police via Action Fraud, a claim for recovery and compensation via HM Courts & Tribunals Service Money Claim Online service and a complaint to the UK Phone-paid Services Authority.
For evidential purposes, further communications in this matter should be made by email only.
I look forward to your acknowledgment.
Yours faithfully,
Hi Wendy
There is no reason why you can’t send your letter before action by email. The important thing is that you are able to prove it was delivered. Ask for an acknowledgment of receipt.
Also make sure that you do have a valid postal address for the company, together with its registration details. Unfortunately, you may find that this company is registered overseas. However, as long as they have a UK presence, you can use the UK Small Claims procedure. You will need these details if you need to start a Small Claim, so it is worth getting them now. It is sometimes worth doing a bit of research to identify the directors of the company and sending a copy of the letter before action to their home address.
The letter looks pretty good to me. However, I would not wait to go to Action Fraud and the PSA. Those actions should already have been taken. (the fraudsters issuing a refund doesn’t make it right that they did it in the first place).
Nexgen are quite prolific fraudsters. There are many cases on the O2 forum, the GiffGaff forum and on Twitter. It might be worth mentioning the fact that you would introduce these cases as evidence to show that yours isn’t an isolated case. You don’t need to prepare this evidence at this stage, just to inform you that you will use it.
You should also make it clear that you will introduce technical evidence to refute any suggestion that an interaction between your handset and their “service” represents a valid “consent to charge”.
The courts take a dim view of evidence introduced after this stage, so it is best to mention now anything that you might want to use in evidence.
The template letter on the website also includes a standard paragraph, referring to the pre-action protocols for civil claims. It would be advisable to include these.
My guess is that your letter will get you a refund, but please also complain to PSA and Action Fraud.
Good Luck,
Paul
Thank you soo much, I’ll follow it all up and will send complaint letters to PSA and Action fraud.
I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your time and advice.
Read the full story about UME limited here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=75457434#post75457434
I found out yesterday that I’ve been scammed by Wahoo London Ltd? who have charged me a total of £22.50 over the last month. I have no idea how this happened, apart from a couple of text messages which I just deleted, thinking they were spam.
Apart from barring future charges, O2 have refused to do anything at all and I’ve have two phone accounts with them for more than 10 years, so pretty disgusted with their attitude, especially bearing in mind that they profit from these charges too!
Alan,
O2 are very inconsistent in their approach to these scams, with some consumers reporting that they have been very helpful, nd other that they have been hopeless!
Wahoo are a UK based company, so the Small Claims procedure is probably the best way to get your money back. Wahoo have been reasonable about this in other cases and have paid a refund without too much argument. Try asking nicely first, but do make it clear that you know that the law is on your side, and that you will use it if necessary.
I have just found out today that I have had fraudulent charges taken by Wahoo London Ltd totalling £36 since January. I have contacted my network provider O2 who have put a block on premium charges and are opening an investigation into it and I should hear back within 5 days. They haven’t confirmed whether they will refund the charges however, have only advised me to send the STOP text and contact “payforit”. I found it very interesting that the o2 customer service agent on the live chat immediately had the phone and email details of the scammers available for me… seems a bit odd!
I have sent an email to “payforit” detailing all of the fraudulent charges and requesting a refund. I have yet to have a response but will update if I do!
I am also unsure how its happened. The reference on my bill says “games” but I don’t play games, I only have a couple on my phone that I have had for many months (before the charges started) and don’t think I have ever even played. Looking at other reports on various websites, I suspect it was a text scam – I would have just deleted and blocked the number as I always do with these messages asking you to click links. I do tend to get quite a lot of these messages – I browse the internet on my mobile data which apparently makes your mobile number viewable to the website companies (which I wasn’t aware of!!) which is how they then text you. From what I’ve read, even when you DONT click the link in the text, the company can still start taking money from you!!
O2 also suggested I could have inadvertently clicked on a link/advert on a website that automatically set up the charges but if that’s the case, I am shocked as clicking a link should NOT empower companies to start taking money from me as in no way is that me giving my permission or signing up to a subscription!
More needs to be done by networks to crack down on this as its theft.
Jessica
Not quite sure what you mean when you say you sent an email to ‘payforit’. Payforit is a name the networks use for their insecure payment system. There is no company called Payforit! The networks hide behind the Payforit name to conceal the fact that actually THEY are responsible! What email address were you given for ‘Payforit’?
They may have given you the email address of the regulator (the Phone-paid Services Authority). The regulator will receive complaints, but does not intervene in individual cases.
Paul,
The email address is cs@payforit-esc.com.
Hi Jessica
The email address you have given is operated by one of the “third party” scammers and not by Payforit. Try a google search for it.
They will probably send you some official looking response claiming that you consented to the charges. It’s rubbish and they are trying to mislead you.
Payforit is NOT a company or organisation. When your network blames Payforit, it is a trick, as THEY ARE responsible for and are operating Payforit!
Paul
I have just found out I have been paying for these phone scams with nexgen. Contacted O2 who have blocked all future payments (we’ll see if that does anything) and provided a number for me to contact nexgen ltd regarding a refund.
When I ring the number I find it is a messaging company answering who will send my details to the advisors who will contact me in 24-48 hours.
Is this normal or is there another means of contacting them?
If you have trouble making contact with Nexgen, you could try contacting the Level 1 provider for the service. A company called mGage is responsible for the 64055 shortcode. You can then call them on the number given on the PSA website 0207 633 5073 or their head office on 020 7633 5000 to obtain contact details for Nexgen Ltd and to insist on a FULL refund. … mGage purport to be reputable company. I am aware of at least one case where they refunded when the third party supplier didn’t.
Hi,
Just wanted to thank you for this.
I was defrauded by a company called ‘Thumb Tiger’, £4.50 a week. First reported to O2 who ‘undertook an investigation’ which resulted in nothing more than stopping the service taking my money.
I then received a text from the scamming company saying they had called me and I had missed it. So I called back and was put in a queue. It gives you an option to request a call back, which I did. He called me back today.
The agent I spoke with was as obstructive as you would expect. He explained that they have a rigorous two step process of clicking a banner ad, then clicking again! And further more, that they send a text message to confirm.
It is true that I received a text message asking if I wanted the payments to stop, but as I explained to him, I don’t respond to unsolicited text messages that resemble spam and could be a ploy to get my phone number added to various marketing services – especially when I haven’t subscribed to any services to begin with.
At this point he said we were going around in circles, and I agreed and asked to speak to a manager. He asked me why, and I explained that as he had said, we were just going around in circles so I needed someone with authority to take action on my complaint.
He set a call back for me, and I received it within the hour. I begun this conversation by explaining I was recording the call in case I had to escalate to the regulatory body. He was okay with this and proceeded to explain the robust verification system they used (two clicks). I asked him for the evidence that I had done this and his response was strange. ‘I knew you were going to say that and the only person who can have that evidence is the phone user, so here’s what I’ll do, I’ll send a refund to your phone which can be cashed at a post office, but that’s just between us’.
There were some other bits and pieces and he asked how much I was charged, but that was the jist of it.
I also told him I was still escalating to the regulatory body.
Thanks!
Hi,
A quick update on my post above from 19th March.
I had received no response from either O2 or the scam company regarding refund of the charges so today I contacted O2 via live chat to follow up. I have the transcript of the chat available by email if anyone wants to see it for information.
I did all of this via the Live chat so that I had a full transcript of what was said.
The O2 rep tried to insist I phone the scam company “Wahoo London” myself to get the charges refunded. I absolutely refused to do this – why on earth would I, their customer, have to contact a known scammer, to get the charges O2 allowed to be taken refunded! That initial rep was quite insistent and just kept giving me the “third party” contact number despite my refusal and making them aware that I was reporting the scam company to Watchdog, which I have done this morning to see if they will follow up and investigate the bigger picture with these scams.
As it wasn’t getting anywhere, I asked to have someone from the fraud team contact me, which i was told they couldn’t do. So then I asked to be transferred on the live chat to someone within the Complaints Dept. Almost immediately that o2 Complaints rep issued a full refund of the charges taken from my account which I have now received back.
My advice is to do what the networks ask initially – send the emails, the “STOP” texts and give them the allocated time to investigate. if they don’t respond back to you or its not to your satisfaction, push it back onto them. IMO, it is not up to me as a long time customer of O2, to be chasing up scam companies for charges that O2 have allowed to be taken from my account without consent. Standing firm with that appeared to do the trick, although they refused to comment on what investigation (if any) o2 would be doing to put a stop to these charges for their customers.
I would also recommend others to report the scam to watchdog via their BBC page. The more people that do it the more likely they are to investigate hopefully.
I am lucky that it was fairly minimal charges (£36) and my network have finally acted appropriately, but I know from searching on google that others haven’t been so lucky and have had hundreds of ££ taken from their accounts. So it definitely needs the networks to crack down on. Surely the charges cap, which O2 were able to immediately apply to my account when I first reported the issue last week, should be done on standard to ALL accounts, with an “opt out” option for those who want to sign up to these things? there must be something like this that can be done!
Just found this scam jamjar mobile was taking £4.50 from my O2 account. Stop straight away calling to O2. I am in ecuador when i found it. So i need to be refund know.
My wife’s phone (for which I am the account holder) has been scammed by J1 Media Ltd for a learn German course which was never signed up for.
Thanks for the info above, I have sent numerous emails to David Flood, the sole director of the company, and I am awaiting his response to my threats of legal action as above.
Although the sum in my case is quite small, £49.50, I do not want this scammer to continue getting away with defrauding people.
I reported to Vodafone’s fraud team and to their credit they gave me £25, although I was more interested that they use their legal clout to actually do something about it. Unfortunately “this isn’t the kind of thing the fraud team deal with”.
Letter before action is next to be sent if Mr Flood does not send me an immediate refund. PSA have been contacted, Vodafone have suggested Ofcom as well.
very annoyed by this!
I have had the same experience with Remote Games. My provider is O2. Still trying to find a way to contact Remote Games and also to see if O2 will refund.
Unlikely that O2 will refund, although they sometimes make a small “goodwill” gesture. You need to pursue Remote Games Ltd
Remote Games Ltd
Remote Games
PO Box 5501
Manchester
M61 0PL
United Kingdom
Companies House gives:
Remote Games Ltd
Suite 7c Parsonage,
Manchester,
England,
M3 2JA
PSA give the following contact details:
Customer care number
0330 053 5841
Customer care email
assist@careformobile.com
Make sure you insist on a FULL refund!
I recently noticed £4.50 weekly charges on my o2 account from May 7th 2019 onwards form “Globway BV”
o2 provided me with the contact details for this company and when contacting them I received the following:
“Globway is a Gateway handling mobile payments for our clients. We are not the provider of the service and therefore do not handle complaints.
Metro Games is a service of our client Lorena Medienagentur GmbH.
For all inquiries with regards to the service Metro Games you can contact Lorena Medienagentur GmbH directly:
Email : gb-metrogames@mobile-help.org
Phone: 02071369915″
I then contacted the Lorena group directly and they have offered a “goodwill” refund but it was not the full amount deducted. They have also asked for my bank details to perform a bank transfer but this makes me feel a bit uneasy as they have already taken money from me without my knowledge.
I have asked for a full refund and an alternative payment method – I’ll let you know how it goes.
Finally – thanks for the website – it has been a really good resource to see where I stand and what I should do!
It was Jammitup for me (run by Finite Global Inc). I noticed after a couple of months – initially thought the messages were phishing or spam. Thanks to this website I knew I had to be persistent. I got o2 to put a block on the charges, then had a back and forth with the Finite Global after the woman I talked to on the phone completely stonewalled me. I got nowhere with the email chain – they kept saying “the service is available on the website for our users” in response to my demand that they show evidence I’d willingly signed up for the service.
I had to be persistent with o2 as well. Firstly I complained and they said they’d take it up with Finite Global. Then I got an email from Finite Global saying they’d cancelled my account and no further charges would be made. o2 then marked the matter closed. They hadn’t even bothered to go further – I suppose it isn’t in their interest.
I had to threaten to leave o2, saying I also wanted to make a formal complaint that they were complicit in these fraudulent charges. They offered to refund me the money. So far I’ve had one monthly bill with nothing to pay – the rest should come out of August’s bill. Then I’m closing my account and leaving o2.
Worth pursuing o2 – tell them you find their business practice shocking/disgusting and threaten to leave (all very politely but firmly), tell them they’ve lost your trust and left you with no choice.
Anyway now to lodge a complaint with the PSA.
Also wanted to thank Paul for this website – I would have been scuppered without it.
I actually made money of these scumbags!
My vodafone wifi dongle got signed up noatel games network.
Now a wifi dongle is basically a mobile phone without screen or keyboard. It has a phone number and can receives SMS, but it impossible to sign up to things ‘by accident’; I don’t even know the number of the dongle by heart.
I complained to vodafone complaints dept. that they must have leaked my phone number, as no one else has access to it. After some hassling, they gave the amount back as goodwill.
(so not formally refunding or admitting blame).
Meanwhile, noatel refunded me after I complained.
So made some money out of this!
Still it would be better if the law would not allow this.
Just got hit with £194 of Payforit charges all for Microsoft Fifa points allegedly purchased through my daughter’s Three mobile phone. We don’t even own an Xbox! There are no text messages or emails in her account relating to any of this (all done last month in August). How do I go about trying to get refunded for this??? Both Three and Microsoft have washed their hands of responsibility. I’ve already reported to police and have a crime ref number
This is a difficult one. Your case highlights the reason for NEVER paying for any “third party services” through your phone bill. When things go wrong, nobody accepts any responsibility, and there is nowhere to make a complaint and dispute the charge.
I think it would be worth using the Small Claims procedure to claim your money back from Three. If they are able to identify a UK based company that handled your payment, you could take proceedings against them, but otherwise you should take action against Three.
Make sure that you follow the correct pre-action procedures, as you can be sure that Three will take advantage of any mistakes you make. Start with a letter before action, asking Three to provide evidence that you consented to the disputed charges. If this doesn’t work it will cost you £25 to start a claim through Moneyclaim Online. As the law stands, the burden of proof rests with Three. It is for them to PROVE that the charges are lawful. If they can’t do that, you are due a refund.
Thanks, already in process of starting proceedings.
Interesting development…
I got charged by 2 different payforit firms, MobiPlanet (or UME LTD) as well as Gamazing… These 2 firms say they operate separately but may be related in the shadows… The UME Ltd charges started when Gamazing ended… Gamazing also are extremely had to track down as they ‘no longer have a UK office’
I got charged £360 and £250 pounds respectively by both. UME/MobiPlanet was quick to accept responsibility (albeit after 5 emails insisting on a 100% refund instead of partial) – and sent the money via the Post Office text.
Gamazing on the other hand were much harder to get a hold of, so I only managed to find them 1 month later (They’re number is 0800 029 4510 for anyone that needs to reach out)
Gamazing claimed that I had already cashed the £250 refund (which I have not!) and gave the same date as when I got the money from UME LTD from the post office. Please keep in mind that that refund was processed before I got in touch with Gamazing.
Coincidence? I think not!
Well done for insisting on a FULL refund from UME
There isn’t an obvious link between the two services, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.
UME are UK Based:
Universal Mobile Enterprises
Shepherd’s Building
Rockley Road
Shepherd’s Bush
W14 0DA
United Kingdom
As they are UK based, I’m not surprised that they refunded in full, as you could otherwise have gone to the Small Claims court.
Gamzing appear to be run by a company in the Netherlands:
Izesoft
Bargelaan 200
Leiden
2333 CW
Netherlands
The published telephone number for them is 0203 627 0110.
It might be worth contacting them on this number. Also, try to find out who the API (level 1 provider) is for this “service”. The PSA should be able to provide you with this information.
The API WILL be UK based, and you can pursue them through the Small Claims procedure as described on this website.
Let me know if you need more help.
Paul
I was hit with around £200 Payforit charges in August through my daughter’s phone on a Three contract. All were for Microsoft Xbox Fifa points – we do not own an Xbox. She has never lent her phone to any friends and is adamant that she did not make these purchases for her or anyone else. As she is 13 I take her phone every night and it is turned off until the morning. Several of these charges were made at nearly 1am on a date when I know for sure that I had her phone! Contacted Microsoft for refund and they can’t find any purchases linked to any email addresses linked to an Xbox account. Contacted Three with no joy so sent template letter before action – no response. Have then initiated a small claim against Three through MoneyClaimOnLine and the 14 day period has now expired with no response from Three. What should I do next???
If Three do not defend your claim, you will get judgement by default. The court should eventually notify you of this. You will then need to enforce the judgement. There are various methods of doing this. Because Three are a large company, there is ultimately no risk of them not being able to pay your claim, so any money you spend on enforcement will be recoverable.
You case highlights the problem with these “charge to bill” arrangements. None of the companies involved wants to take any responsibility. This is why it is important to ask your to bar all third party charges to your bill. (something which Three refuse to do).
Thanks for the reply Paul. Do I have to request a judgement against Three via MoneyClaim now that the 14 days they had to respond has expired?
Yes, if Three fail to defend within the allotted time, you can request judgement through the MCOL website. It’s actually a it more than 14 working days that is allowed, as a further five days are allowed for service. Be very careful that you follow the rules as Three will have sharp lawyer on the case once you have judgment!
I suggest you read up on the process here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/762843/mcol-userguide-eng.pdf
Thanks again Paul. My claim was issued on November 5th so has now reached the 14 days +5 . I’ll have a read up on things before requesting judgement.
Let me know how it goes, and come back to me if you need further help. This could be a very important test case if you succeed in getting and enforcing judgement against Three. I’m surprised they haven’t filed a defence or sought a settlement. Good luck!
So judgement against Three was issued a week ago and still nothing from them. How long do they have to respond before a warrant can be requested??
Three have 14 days in which to pay before you can take enforcement action. Cover yourself by sending a further letter to Three highlighting the judgement and the need for them to pay.
Before starting enforcement action, make absolutely sure that you have done everything right. Make sure you have used the correct (registered company) address for service of the claim. If all is OK you will need to spend money on bailiffs, which will cost money (but you will get it back as these charges are added to the claim). The good news is that Three will not be able to plead poverty, and bailiffs should have no difficulty getting your money.
Let me know how this goes. Three are continuing to ignore the problem of Payforit fraud, and a duly enforced CCJ would help the cases of other victims.
So I finally got an email tonight from someone at Three executive office inn relation to my claim and asking me to call them tomorrow (Friday 13th). Now that judgement has been issued I’m assuming they will be simply asking how to pay me??? or can they now start to dispute the claim?
They CAN go back to the court to dispute the claim, but it seems unlikely. More likely they will agree to settle. Make sure they pay the full costs of your claim though.
Please let me know the outcome. Up to now I’ve not recommended legal action against MNOs, because they have the resources to effectively dispute these claims. Although Small Claims cases don’t set a legal precedent, your case could pave the way for others to take similar action.
Had a very brief phone call with Three Executive Office this morning where they simply asked for my bank details so they could refund the full amount of small claims judgement including £25 fee for raising action.
Well that’s good news. They lost the case because they failed to defend it and have now agreed to pay in full. Well done!
An apology would have been nice of course!
Other victims of fraudulent payforit charges from Three can now consider a Small Claim against Three.
I agree that an apology would have been nice too but I’m just glad to get my money back. I would encourage anyone in the same situation to do the same as I did and use the money claim online site to raise an action as it’s very easy and you can keep track of how it progresses. Thanks to Paul for all his advice!
Thanks to all of those involved in putting together this informative website. Sympathy to fellow victims.
I have lost £759 to SB7 Mobile Ltd, iFitness and Watch It. I’m at the write-a-letter stage but I’d like to ask something first – has anyone bypassed all of this and just called the police? Surely the activity of these organisations is fraudulent and therefore a criminal rather than civil matter.
You can certainly try this approach, but the difficulty is that while it easy to prove that the charges are unlawful, it is harder to prove fraud. The PSA recently took action against Veoo Ltd. Although in this case there was considerable evidence of deliberate fraud by individual directors, the matter does not seem to have been referred to the police. The problem is that action for fraud can’t be taken against companies – only against individuals. The directors of these companies go to great lengths to distance themselves from the fraudulent processing.
It is a sad reflection of our time that fraud has become a matter for toothless organisations like the PSA rather than law enforcement.
I don’t think efforts to pursue a case through the criminal courts are likely to succeed and they are not a substitute for civil actions.
That’s good advice, thanks. I’ll continue along the civil route.
The sad thing is that even for those of us who manage to reclaim our money, the damage goes beyond the dent in our bank balance. I, for one, have already lost hours upon hours to conducting research, compiling evidence and writing correspondence. That’s time that should have been dedicated to working or learning or family. Moments lost to feed a stranger’s greed.
Then there’s the psychological aftermath. I’m sure other victims feel as violated and powerless as I do – if criminals can help themselves to the money in our bank accounts with impunity, what else can they do? They’re free to enjoy a world where consequence doesn’t exist, while those of us who abide by the rules and decency are the ones who suffer.
I have an ongoing case against Bonafide Mobile for the amount of over £100 over a year or so, i will let you know how it goes. I have tried to get them to stop lots of times and still keep being charged now even without texts arriving! Three looking into it. I have written, called and barred them. Nothing has worked, even via Tap2Bill. Someone has to be responsible?! I am escalating to small claims if Three won’t get my money back.
They have now offered me a goodwill partial refund and asked if someone got hold of my Dad’s phone. I am a 34 year old woman and haven’t lived at home since I was 16. This is crazy talk. They also threw the ‘we text you a Pin and you entered it on a website’ line at me without supplying me any details of where I did this. I have said I will take them to small claims and refused the partial refund.
This is all pretty much what I would have expected. I you’re with Three, the requirement or PIN verification only came into force in November 2019. Send them a letter before action, as detailed on the website. I expect they will pay up, but if they don’t come back to me here and I’ll help you take your case further.
Thankyou so much! I will send the letter before action tomorrow
I recently took out a successful small claim against Three for Payforit charges on a phone my daughter uses. I had the same offers of £30 goodwill gesture which I refused but they still applied to the next bill. I initiated the claim through MoeyClaimOnline which cost £25 and was very easy. I should add that I received no response to my claim from Three and was then awarded judgement against them. I received a phone call from a woman asking me how I would like to be paid followed by a letter from the same lady saying that Three never received my claim letter which was obviously sent as I received a copy by mail too. She said in her letter that had Three received it then they would have defended the claim. They never supplied any of the information requested in the letter before action either as I just don’t think they have it or they don’t care. Thanks again to Paul for all the help.
Hi Paul, so after arguing with me again that they only owed me a goodwill gesture and my pressing hard for API details and screenshots I have now been offered a full refund of over £200. I still intend to report them to Action Fraud because these Bona Fide criminals need to be stopped. Thankyou so much for all the help you give everyone here, you’re a solid gold hero
I followed your advice after discovering £100 taken from my phone bills by Wapstar/Remote Games. Phoned them and got a guy who gave me an email address. Emailed them asking for proof, and they said I ‘would have’ clicked on a website etc. They also refused a refund even though I hadn’t asked for one at that stage. I then asked again for a full list of proof or for a refund, otherwise I’d report them to the authorities, make a fuss on social media, and take them to small claims court. They refunded my money in full. Thank you so much for the time and trouble you have taken to create this website!
Hello. Been scammed by UME Ltd. I ignored messages but when found out that they really charge me I contacted o2 to stop it. Thought they done it but after 2 weeks charges came back and I missed it unfortunately. Now found this website and decided try get refund. They owe me £351 in total. Emailed them as advised here. Their first refund offer was funny £4.50. Of course I didn’t accept that and after few more emails they offered £100. Explained them that full refund is all what can accept and if won’t receive it I will take legal actions against them. Here is last response what I got from them :
“With respect, as per our refund policy you are not entitled to refund at all. Ours is a goodwill gesture in order to reach a resolution. Please accept as we are not permitted to offer more under the below circumstances.”
I asked for all proofs, evidence of usage etc, asked also few times if they want use ADR scheme to resolve the issue but they never answered that. What would you guys reccomend me to do now? Will be much appreciated for any advises.
It sounds as though you have done everything right so far. Have yo sent a formal Letter Before Action yet? We are currently advising AGAINST using ADR as the CommsADR has been very poor and very slow in considering the cases it has dealt with in the past few months. Although it means spending money (£25) we believe that the Small Claims procedure offers consumers the best chance of obtaining a FULL refund.
Don’t start action through Moneyclaim Online until the deadline in your Letter Before Action has expired ( This should be at least two weeks).
In your dealings with UME, it might be worth asking them why the Payforit 120 Day rule was not applied. This rule means that unless there is evidence that you were using the “service”, the “subscription” should have been stopped after 120 days.
If you scroll back through these comments, you will find posts from another onsumer who successfully obtained a full refund from UME.
Let us know if you need further help or advice,
Paul
Thanks for your replay Paul.
I didn’t send Letter Before Action yet as was full of hope to get refund by dealing with them by email. After this message what I posted in previous comment I told them that won’t negotiate any more and asked to confirm company’s address where Letter Before Action needs be sended. Mentioned also that if they ignore it and I won’t receive full refund will go to Small Claims Court. They offered me £150 refund and then £200. Finally I said that won’t accept any offer less than £300 and said hard that this is my last email and if will be refused next day I start legal actions against them. This is reply what I got this morning:
“Dear Lukasz,
My director approved your refund request of £300 as a gesture of goodwill and in order to move on.
Please confirm and we will proceed with the refund.”
So big thank you to you all for all advises in articles and comments 🙂
I have been scammed out of £115.50 by a company called Gamazers and the number provided does not work, i have emailed them a few time with no luck. 08009533739
02036270110
I know the company is based in Netherlands but i have no idea how else to contact them. Does anyone know another other number or their UK address.
The regulator has the following information:
Customer care number
02036270110
Customer care email
support@rbilling.net
Customer care website
https://gamazing.co
Postal address
Izesoft
Bargelaan 200
Leiden
2333 CW
Netherlands
If this doesn’t work, best to contact PSA to see whether they can investigate. What was the five digit number the texts came from?
I have been scammed by Red27 Mobile for a total of £210 which (£3/week) which has been going on for a year and I didn’t realise.I stopped it immediately when I found out and emailed them for a full refund.At first they offered me £4.50 then increased to £20.Then, I emailed them that I will be taking legal action if I don’t receive the full refund which they responded by increasing to a £35 refund:
“Despite opt-in being explicit and final, and of course you have received entries into all draws as per the terms of service, since you are unhappy with the service I am happy to arrange a goodwill refund of £35 as a gesture of good will and in order to move on. Sadly, that is all I am permitted to offer in the circumstances.”
I asked them for proof that I used the service after the alleged subscription which they didn’t provide which means why would I allegedly subscribe to something I wouldn’t use.Now I emailed them about the Payforit 120 day rule and asked them to show me proof of using the subscription and asked them why it wasn’t cancelled after 120 days which they are yet to respond to.
Do you have any advice for me now?Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Hello
My mentally and physically disabled sister is owed £616 from a company called SB7 mobile ltd. They have offered to give my sister – as a ‘goodwill’ gesture – £150.
EE told me a barr was placed on her account, but this month they are still charging her account. This is after I sent a STOP message, contacted the company (who informed me they would place a barr on the alleged subscription). How are they still managing to take money???
EE have informed me they cannot refund my sister. I’ve sent numerous emails and have not received any response from SB7 mobile ltd. The number I called and continue to call now just cuts off, or I get a answer machine. It’s all very strange.
It’s absolutely despicable that companies like this are allowed to exist.
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